3 things real thought leadership does

Real talk. I’m so done reading super long memos, blog posts, and LinkedIn posts that people used AI to create but couldn’t even be bothered to read themselves.

I decided to create three characteristics of people-generated thought leadership content, and I wanna share those with you today.

These are complementary to my people-generated content framework I shared last week (that over 50,000 people saw and more than 1,200 people saved on LinkedIn… thank so much if you were one of them!).

I’ll share below if you missed it.

Basically I’m hell-bent on making the case that brands don’t land the way people do, and brands need to shift their focus away from on-brand everything, and toward empowering individual voices to share instead, across three primary groups:

So let’s talk about the 3 characteristics that actual thought leadership has, and why AI CAN’T have those characteristics.

Personal stories break through the noise and slop. True thought leadership always has “I language,” basically an instance of saying, “I…” instead of making broad generalizations.

The most impactful “I language” usually draws from past experiences, IRL interactions, and feelings.

AI can’t do this because it doesn’t have real experiences. AI talks very generally. It lumps a lot of data points and pieces of information together, and it’s good at spotting trends.

But in terms of sharing specific, resonant examples of the human condition? Nahhh, it doesn’t do that.

Thought leadership helps people voice something they have thought or felt, but have had trouble voicing themselves.

Whenever I see a great instance of thought leadership, I usually see comments that say something like, “Wow, I feel so seen.”

AI can’t do this because it only draws from content that already is published and exists. It literally can’t voice something unvoiced because it is not really creating anything from scratch.

AI is not seeing subtext. It is not perceiving unsaid feelings.

Whenever I see meaningful thought leadership, I usually see 20+ comments, or other people creating content in response to the thought leadership.

If anybody can skim it and nod their head and agree, that is not thought leadership.

AI can’t do this because it’s broadly trying to create something that gets consensus. AI is trying to pass humans’ bar for good enough.

Usually what I see AI create is fine. But it’s not enough to spark debate and cheers.

I believe humans (not AI) will generate the most efficient and influential content for B2B brands today.

When I think about the trends that inspire me most in content and social right now… from AI-generated to people-generated is the shift I’m excited to see.

Let me know what you think.

This week, Yanni Pappas featured me in his totally viral article about how employees are the new influencers, and the future of the creator economy. This thing had over 1,400 reactions on LinkedIn.

Check it out for real stories of companies getting incredible brand reach through the power of their employees, including quotes from me.

And on that exact topic of employee creators… I’ve been BLESSED to talk with many folks already about the EGC workshops that Vince Pierri and I are running. O M G 😱

We are so excited about the workshops we have coming up in May, and can’t wait to do more… and inspire more of your teams to create people-generated content this summer.

Our EGC workshop is three hours, totally interactive, and covers:

This can be virtual, but I'm also based in LA and am making stops in Indy and Cleveland throughout the coming months.

Reply to this if you are keen! This is getting so much momentum, and I want to train even more of you ❤

I just published my three best suggestions for companies wanting to give their webinars a glow-up in 2026, in partnership with Riverside.

Webinars are just a show with benefits. Everybody’s so focused on making new YouTube series or podcasts, and I’m just wondering… what about improving your webinars, and making those an ongoing show instead?

A lot of webinars still feel like they’re outta the 2010 playbook, and it’s not that hard to level them up. Watch my video and let me know how you are giving your webinars a makeover.

I will be taking some time off next week to recharge, so I will not be sending you a cheeky lil newsletter next week.

Talk to you on the flip side!